Can't Let Go
by d0rky x33
Summary: Finding love in an unexpected place has never had an effect on anyone this way before. Chapter 1 is up! Reviews are greatly welcome and appreciated. RRMCPJ


**A/N: I own nothing, except for any characters that I may choose to make up for this fic, and the fic itself. Takes place after no particular episode but around the time where Rachel and Monica still lived together (with no Chandler/Monica involvement) and when Joey and Chandler still lived together.

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Rachel walked into Joey and Chandler's apartment; God willingly he would be there. She needed to spend some time with the man who had consoled her through everything with Ross. She was heartbroken that after all they had been through together, Ross still wanted no part in continuing their relationship. He was her first **real** love.

"Oh. Hey Rach." Joey greeted, coming from the bathroom door.

Rachel smiled at him warmly. "Hey Joe."

"Is everything okay?" He asked her, noticing her shakiness.

"Yeah, yeah. Is Chandler around?"

"Um, no Chandler's at the coffee house." Joey informed her.

Rachel's face revealed her disappointment.

"But…is there anything that I could help you with?" He offered.

"No, I'm fine Joe. But thank you." Rachel expressed her gratitude.

"No problem." He smiled at the dirty blonde.

"Well, I'm just gonna take off then. Thanks Joey." Rachel waved as she walked out of the apartment across the hall from her own.

* * *

**Inside Central Perk**, a nervous Chandler sat on the couch alone. He was hopeful that he'd see Rachel walk through the double doors. They had had one amazing conversation the night before and he just had to see her again. But it wasn't Rachel who walked through the doors; it was Ross.

"Hey man." Ross said, taking a seat next to Chandler.

"Hey Ross." Chandler replied.

"Can I, can I ask you something man?" Ross hesitated.

Chandler nodded his head yes.

"Well, I know I hurt Rachel. But do you honestly think that things with us could ever go back to the way they were back then? I mean sure I love her and probably always will someway or another but we're just friends and it's just too complicated to get back together." He explained.

"Is…that what you told her?" Chandler asked.

"What? No. I just, I don't want to hurt her."

"Well, I think it's safe to say that it's a little late for that." Chandler stated the obvious.

"I know, but do you think we'll ever be able to be friends like we were?"

Chandler knew the answer. It would always be a little tough for Rachel to see Ross as the guy she used to. He had broken her heart. But, he didn't want to be the one to tell Ross this. It wasn't his place.

"Maybe I'm not the one you should be talking to about this. I mean this isn't really my subject you know?" Chandler tried to ditch the topic.

"Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry, maybe I'll go find Joey." Ross suggested

"Yeah or Monica…Monica's her best friend. There's gotta be something there." Chandler pointed out.

It was then that Rachel and Ross crossed paths at the door. Barely even acknowledging Ross, Rachel passed him speedily. She sat down next to Chandler.

"Joey told me I could find you here." She smiled.

"I had hoped you were…" Chandler stopped himself short, making sure not to let her get the best of him, "okay."

"Yeah well, the guy I love doesn't love me and doesn't want any part of a relationship with me. I'm super." She said with a sarcastic tone.

"Aw Rach. I know you're going through a lot right now. I'm so sorry about Ross."

"Aw Chandler, you're so sweet. And, I just have to say that you've been extremely sweet to me and I appreciate it more than you know." She placed her hand on top of his.

"Of course Rach. And, I just have to say that talk last night…"

"Oh honey I know. It was amazing. You were so supportive and I honestly have never had such a deep conversation with a guy before. I didn't know you had it in you." She joked.

Rachel gazed into Chandler's eyes. It was happening again. She didn't want to have these feelings for him. She couldn't. How complicated would that make life? So complicated. But lately she had been having these moments with him where, it just felt right.

"Joey ordered a pizza." Chandler broke the awkward, but delighting silence.

"Oh, yeah you should go eat some then." Rachel said awkwardly.

"Yes. Well, feel free to stop by later tonight if you want to talk." Chandler put the offer on the table.

"Okay. Um Chandler…" She began as he was walking away, "Maybe me and you could go out to dinner tomorrow night?" She suggested.

"Yeah, that sounds nice." He obliged, turning to face her.

"Okay. It's a date. I mean it's not a date. I mean, not that I don't want it to be a date but it's not a date, I just meant… I'll see you tomorrow then." Rachel smiled, hugging him goodbye.

"I know what you meant Rach." Chandler whispered into her ear as they hugged.

* * *

**Back at Monica's** apartment, Ross had found comfort in confiding in his little sister.

"Mon, have you talked to her lately?" He asked.

"Yeah, I have. Have you?"

"No, I haven't…not since that night." Ross admitted his cowardliness.

"Well, maybe that's for the best." Monica told him.

"But Mon, we're all best friends. I mean, what am I supposed to do? We can't just keep ignoring each other. The six of us all hang out together. She lives with you. What the hell am I supposed to do?"

"Ross, I don't know. But right now, she's really hurt and seeing her would probably only make things worse."

"I have to make things okay between us. I have to make it right."

"How do you expect to do that?" Monica asked.

"I have absolutely no idea. She, she hates me." Ross told his sister.

"Ross, come on. She doesn't hate you. It's a lot more complicated than that. She's in love with you. She loves you more than the world. She misses what you two had and now she wanted to make it work again, but you didn't want to. She just needs some closure and a chance to get over you." Monica informed him.

"But in the meantime, don't you think I should apologize for hurting her? I mean that is the last thing I wanted to do. And I just think I should make it right, and tell her that I'm sorry." Ross explained.

"I can't tell you what to do. Nobody can. But, my best advice to you would be just to make sure you don't hurt her anymore than you already have."

"I won't. I never would." Ross said.

"Alright, well I need to get ready for work. I'll talk to you later Ross." Monica said, hugging her brother and moving off to her room to get ready.

* * *

**The next night** Ross sat alone in his apartment deciding how he was going to apologize to Rachel. How would he truly be able to get across how sorry he was? He finally decided he would call her, maybe invite her out for dinner, his treat, so that they could talk about it. As he dialed the numbers he had begun to know too well, his palms were sweaty and his knees were shaking.

He got her voicemail.

"Hi, this is Rachel Green. Uh, I'm not picking up so just try me later, Buh-bye."

With the sound of the beep, he didn't know if he was prepared to leave his thoughts on a message.

"……Um, Rachel. This is Ross. I think, uh…I think we really, we need to get together and…well I guess what I'm trying to say is that, Rachel, we need…well I really need…to, to…oh God. Um…" And with that, the message had run too long and he was cut off.

"Damn it!" He yelled to himself. That was so not the way he wanted to do this, at all.

* * *

Rachel stood in front of her mirror in her room, putting on her earrings. Tonight was the night she was going out with Chandler. How could it be that the two of them had become so close in just a matter of a weeks time? She glanced over at her clock, which read 7:01. It was time.

She exited her room wearing a sleek black dress from Bloomingdale's.

"Whoa. Got a hot date tonight Rach?" Monica asked as soon as she saw her friend.

"What? No, no. I'm just going out with some people from work. I need a night out on the town." Rachel lied.

"Oh, well good for you Rach. That's probably a really good idea." Monica told her.

"Yeah, thanks Mon. Well, I gotta get going. I'll see ya later." Rachel said, exiting the apartment.

Chandler was across the hall, putting the finishing touches on his hair. He wanted to make a good impression on Rachel. He wanted to show her that he wasn't just the sarcastic, jokester.

As he walked out of the bathroom, Joey was coming out of his room.

"Hey Joe." He greeted.

"Hey man, what're you doing?"

"Um, just getting ready to leave." Chandler told him.

"Oh. What, you got a date?" Joey asked, curious to his friend's whereabouts.

"Um, no…not a date. Just going out with a girl."

"Sounds like a date to me." Joey told him.

"Well, it's not. I'll see you later Joe." Chandler said, walking out to meet Rachel in the hallway.

"Rach…" He said, trying to get her attention, as she seemed to be looking around for him.

"Oh hey! I didn't know if you had come out yet or not." She told him.

"Oh. Well, you look…wow. Amazing." He complimented.

Rachel smiled at him. "Thanks, you too."

"I've never seen you in a dress like that, where's it from?" A curious Chandler wanted to know.

"Oh um…Bloomingdale's."

"Well, you look amazing in it." Chandler complimented again.

"Thanks. Hey, let's just get out of the hall." Rachel didn't want to be caught in her own lie.

"Oh, alright." Chandler said, moving things along.

* * *

**Ross couldn't believe** how badly he'd messed things up. He just wanted to apologize to her. That's all he was trying to do, and yet somehow…cat got his tongue and he was unable to pull it all together. He needed some advice on what his next move should be. He needed woman advice. He knew just who to call.

The phone in Joey's apartment rang. He came out of the bathroom just in time to pick it up on the last ring.

"Hello?" He answered.

"Joey. It's Ross."

"Oh, hey Ross. What's going on?"

"Well, I really screwed up with Rachel and I need some advice." Ross admitted to his fault.

"Oh, I don't know if I'm the right person to be talking to about that man. Try Monica?" He suggested.

"No, Joey. She didn't think it was a good idea to call Rachel anyway, and I can't admit that she was right."

"Hmm…alright. Well, spill all."

"Well, I wanted to apologize to Rachel for hurting her the way that I did. So I decided to call her and see if we could get together to talk about it. And I called her cell phone, but I got her voicemail. And I guess I was just kind of nervous about sharing my feelings over a message. So I was stuttering with my words and the message got cut off before I could even say that I wanted to get together to talk." Ross explained.

"Oh wow. Well, I don't know about that."

"I need to find a way to erase that message before she gets it." Ross said

"Chandler's pretty good with that stuff. Maybe he'll know what to do. Let me call him and ask him." Joey told Ross.

"Where is he?" Ross asked.

"Um, he's out with a girl."

"He had a date?" Ross asked, surprised.

"Well, no. He said he was just going out with a girl." Joey explained.

Ross didn't even bother asking what that was all about, but Joey put him on hold as he called Chandler's cell phone.

Chandler was sitting in the restaurant with Rachel when his phone went off. Noticing that it was Joey, he decided to pick up.

"It's just Joey," Chandler explained. "I'm sure it's no big deal."

"Hey Joe." He answered.

"Hey, sorry to interrupt your um…non-date."

"It's okay, what do you need?"

"Well, Ross is on the other line. He said he called Rachel and left a message on her cell phone that he really didn't want to leave and he wants to erase it before she reads it. I thought maybe you would know a way to do that."

"What…what did the message say?"

"I think it just talked about how he wanted to get together with her to talk about what happened with them."

"Oh…" Chandler glanced over at Rachel who was adjusting her dress. Part of him didn't want her to get the message either, but it wasn't for Ross's sake, it was for his. If Rachel knew Ross had wanted to get together with her, then she would do it, and if one thing led to another Ross might fall for Rachel again.

"I think I know something I could do." He told Joey.

"You do?" Joey asked, surprised.

"Yeah, tell him not to worry, I'll take care of it."

"Alright man, Thanks. Bye." Joey ended the conversation.

"Later Joe."

"What did he want?" Rachel asked.

"Someone from 'Days Of Our Lives' needs help with something." Chandler lied.

Rachel looked concerned, "Is it serious?" She asked.

"No, not serious, it's just a guy problem." Chandler explained.

Rachel nodded her head in a comprehending manner.

"Hey, I have a surprise for you. Do you think you could go in the bathroom for a minute while I get it ready?"

"A surprise?" Rachel asked confused.

"Yeah, if you just go in there and then come back out in maybe five minutes or so, it'll be ready." Chandler encouraged her.

"Alright, I'll take my purse just in case…or could you just keep an eye on it?" She asked him.

"No, I can watch it for you." It was imperative that she leave her purse at the table, otherwise his plan would never work.

"Alright, I'll be back shortly." She smiled, leaving him alone at their table.

His plan had to come into effect. He was simply going to go through her voicemail and delete the message. He grabbed her phone from her purse and began shuffling through the options on the main menu until he saw the voicemail section. He selected it. The computed voice told him he needed to enter the four-digit password. He had no idea what it was, but he took the guess that made the most sense. He entered the numbers 7-6-7-7 into the keypad, spelling out R-O-S-S.

"Password Confirmed." It told him. "You have one new message." The voice said before playing the message.

Chandler listened intently. "……Um, Rachel. This is Ross. I think, uh…I think we really, we need to get together and…well I guess what I'm trying to say is that, Rachel, we need…well I really need…to, to…oh God. Um…"

He almost didn't have the heart to delete it. But he had to. He pressed the buttons necessary for the task. "Message Deleted."

With that, he called over the waiter to order the most expensive champagne in the restaurant. This would be the surprise Rachel was expecting.

She returned to the table with a smile on her face. "So, what's the big surprise?"

"I ordered us some champagne. I know that it's maybe not as great of a surprise as you wanted or expected but, that's what it is."

Rachel looked him in the eyes. "Chandler, I wasn't expecting any surprise so that fact that you even had a surprise for me just says it all. You're amazing." She told him.

Chandler smiled. He wanted nothing more than to kiss her. He began leaning over the table to do so when her cell phone rang. She picked it up and read the Caller ID.

Shocked as ever, she said it out loud, "It's Ross."

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**Well, that was my first chapter! I hope you enjoyed it. Here's what you should look for next; The reason why Ross is calling Rachel, Joey finding out where Chandler really was on his non-date, Monica and Joey pairing, and Phoebe enters the fic. Reviews would be amazing, thanks!**


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